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Thanks Merse, but Arsenal CAN win away games and EPL

As if it is not bad enough for the Arsenal fans and our general levels of belief in the team’s ability to finish the season with a flourish, but we have former players and reporters in the football media lining up to tell us just why the Gunners will fail.

To be honest we have become used to it over the years but it is always a bit more annoying when it is one of our former stars writing Arsenal off, although Paul Merson does have some form here and has been an outspoken critic of Arsene Wenger many times in the past.

The former England and Arsenal midfielder got stuck into the manager again today, telling Sky Sports that he half expected the Frenchman to throw away our chances of the FA cup by resting the best players ahead of the pipe dream that is our Champions League trip to Barcelona.

He said, “Watford is Wenger’s biggest game for a long, long time. I think it is a massive match but it wouldn’t surprise me if he made 10 changes and saved everybody for Barcelona, which they have no chance in.”

But his harshest words were about our chances of pipping Leicester and Tottenham to the Premier League title, which he reckons are about zero because of the inability of the Gunners to get much out of the tough away games we have left.

The pundit declared, “They have no chance [of winning the league]. I say no chance because with the three away games they have at Everton, West Ham and Man City, the best I can see is two draws and a win, and I’m being kind with that.

“That’s five points gained and it still leaves them three points behind Leicester, and Leicester would have three games in hand.

“Man City would be the dangers to Leicester for me. Arsenal and Tottenham fans are each hoping the other doesn’t win the league and Leicester are going to run away from both and win it.

“The two sets of fans are going to be left saying, ‘Yes, but we finished above you!’ But who cares?”

Okay Merse you are entitled to your opinion, of course, but what’s your reasoning? Nobody gave us much chance of getting anything away to the spuds last weekend especially once we were trailing with a man down. A couple of years ago there was a stack of evidence that Arsenal struggled in big away games but we have proved since then, including away to Man City last season, that we can win these games.

We broke our away duck in Greece this season when under huge pressure and we thumped Leciester 5-2, so while I agree that Arsenal winning the title is unlikely and I personally do not think it will happen, to say we can’t and to say we can’t get much from these away games is a bit harsh don’t you think?

you are right arse.
So now a lucky draw with the spuds is being viewed as a great result.
Merson is totally right on everything.
We are now only competing in a single competition because the rest is lost for now And wenger is deluded

Merson was a very talented footballer but was never very smart. He is no pundit and I’m amazed that you guys think anything of his comments. Like so many ex footballers he’s being controversial to get airtime. Meaningless.

I see it a little differently. He gets paid for air time and could just tow the party line and say how well AFC are doing under Wenger but he doesn’t because he gives a rats arse about what’s going on there and knows we are not what we could be.

Fair comment but Merse ain’t any kind of football analyst aka Neville. So intelligent analysis is not his bag. He can’t make run of the mill comments cos you and I do that, and we don’t get media contracts do we? Let’s face it being pro AFC isn’t cool either, so it’s much easier to go with the popular vote and expect the worst. So to get attention he has to be controversial and with trashing AFC being so popular, it gets clicks on his little media platform.

“I don’t know if the FA Cup is our best
chance of a trophy,” Wenger added. I don’t
think like that. I haven’t given up on the
Premier League at all and I’ve said that
many times, nor the Champions League. We
have to take care of the next minute and
the next minute is an FA Cup game. Is it
the best chance to win a trophy? It’s still
far away. We must win the next game and
prove that we can show consistency again.”

Mr wenger still thinks we are chasing the premier league and still have a shot at the champs league.
If this is not delusion i dont know what is.
Even in the champs league there still remains the lying threats of chelsea and man united.

“We play to the whistle”. “We give 110%” …
The point though is, do you actually believe it? Do the results actually reflect what is spoken (learning on past failures, wanting to invest in success etc) or is it just hot air?

Of course he would like to be successful, but does he in his self built castle still have what it takes to be the best? I do not and have thought not for some number of years now.

I personally would like someone a bit more frank and direct without the BS so as not to lie to the fans. Wenger seems to have become increasingly disingenuous these past years, like he is lying for his puppet masters constantly finding a reason for failure to hide A. Their (the boards) desire to do little to improve the on field exploits of the team whilst enjoying the cream from the AFC financial cake whilst and B. Masking his own deficiencies and abilities or lack there of.

What is even more hilarious is that we know in our hearts of heart that Paul Mersin is saying the truth. When it does happen that we find ourselves out of the two comps (as we’ve done the past 11 years) the question will then be -Who is more delusional? Fans or management?

By all indication the answer is certainly obvious going by the reaction to Merson’s statement.

Well all of the media, pundits and fans that have bashed Arsenal down the years, do it for a very obvious reason, and guess what…they’re always get it right.

I really took exception to one line in particular in this article “Okay Merse you are entitled to your opinion, of course, but what’s your reasoning?” How could any ‘fan’ of Arsenal say that, unless they never watch us play I suppose. Arsenal have been woeful this season, and last season too. Arsenal were poor in the 13/14 season as well, that’s why Merson said what he said. How can there still be fans out there that apparently watch Arsenal, and think we’re performing really well! Baffling to say the least!!

Honestly, it’s become a crime to even offer balanced views, let alone positive ones about AFC. If someone can’t post an article without people taking exception, when on the counter side people here consistently write completely irrational myopic bs about how poor Wenger and AFC are (you may or may not be one who does) it just makes me laugh. AFC have at times played woefully at other times exceptionally. Try to have a balanced perspective, we won two back to back fa cups, were top of the league for prolonged periods, played in the Cl (yes we went out each season but 14 pl clubs didn’t even get a sniff), won the pre season charity shield and finished in the top 4 each year. Woeful it’s not. Disappointing that we haven’t taken the title, is the only legitimate claim. Every team loses (er with one notable exception that I’m sure I don’t need to point out) and every team has good and bad games. Woeful is being pl champions, then spending the best part of the following year in the bottom half of the league struggling to make the Europa league places. Woeful is spending 100m on the leagues most expansive squad and still struggling to get the to fourth in the league.

Whilst I hear what you are saying, a lot of your points are taken out of context. For most other clubs our performances season after season maybe seen as successful, but not for fans who know we should be doing better, especially the last three seasons given our resources. Who cares if we’ve been top of the league for prolonged periods if we never win it or even finish as runners-up for that matter. Arsenal were top of the league longer than anyone else in the 13/14, yet we still finished fourth! Is that acceptable? Who cares if we qualify for the Champions League via finishing fourth all the time. If Champions qualification was even the top six, would that still be deemed a successful season to finish fifth or sixth? Every season Wenger is lorded over for yet again qualifying from an easy group as if it was a difficult task. We fold every time we’re in the knock out stage, even against the weakest of opposition. Is that acceptable?

Even last year’s FA cup was practically handed to Arsenal on a plate! We played six games, five of them were very easy fixtures, and even the one tough game we had (ManU), was against the worst ManU in decades, that gifted us the winning goal and even got a man sent off! Even this year has been easier with all four ties at home and against weak opposition thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so pleased we won them, but when faced with difficult competition, we fail all the time under Wenger. It’s got to the point, that the only trophies we can win, are the ones where luck is the defining factor.

You talk about a balanced view, but I disagree, I think a realistic view is needed. Winning the FA cup does not at all mean Arsenal are improving. If you don’t believe me, just check out our performances and results in Europe and in the league. I mention these two competitions because they are genuinely tough to win. I would argue, given the results whilst acknowledging that our squad has got stronger over the last three years, that Arsenal are actually regressing under Wenger, not progressing.

We view AFC differently. I do not forget the change that Wenger brought to our club, nor the past success he has had. We have been through a process financially, operationally and technically that other clubs are doing piecemeal over a much longer period. During that time we have continued to compete and enjoy being there or thereabouts on every level. Three years ago the focus shifted towards investment instead of excessively tight financial management, during which time we had to sell great players. We have started to build a team and I believe we will again be serious contenders but on a sustained basis.

Wenger makes mistakes. No doubt. He’s an idiot playing with the fans, he doesn’t communicate effectively, but then the club could bridge that gap if it had the sense to do so. It frustrates me that he never says we need x and then gets them. It frustrates me that he talks in ambiguous cliches. It frustrates me that he fails to recognise some legitimate observations about players and leaders. He is also seemingly an autocrat, though that may be a product of the environment as when Dein was there he was far more balanced.

However he’s his own man and over 20 years, if people can understand the financial challenges (some fans have absolutely no idea how much of a burden this was), it is only the past few years that one can truly criticise. However, he’s a loyal guy with idealistic views. He’s tried to build an English core and although it’s fashionable to trash that now, we’d have loved it if England ran out with Theo, the Ox, Wilshire, Gibbs, Welbeck etc. He’s not dumped players when others would because he believes in potential and recognises that not everyone responds to the same motivation. Sometimes that’s been at his cost. No doubt. He’s an honourable guy, despite the halfwits on this site that would call him a crook or a conman.

He’s not been helped by idiotic comments from the AFC hierarchy ‘we can buy any player…bla bla bla’, which perhaps sets unreasonable expectations. No one knows to what extent his hands have been tied. We have 159m in the bank but that’s not necessarily available to Wenger.

So my perspective remains one of respect and patience. I am able to say I’m not happy with certain things and that I’m pissed that we haven’t taken opportunities this season. I’m able to say that we should have made more progress in the past three years. I never saw this season as ours to lose, but it has turned out that teams like Chelsea, City, Utd etc have totally fu and consequently if we’d had more squad depth we could have taken the title. However I can also say despite current opinion, that I’m prepared to give Wenger time to continue what started in 2012 and believe that if we get the right players (yes I believe we need 2/3) then Wenger remains a great person to have at the helm as his unparalleled success with the invincibles showed. When he gets it right it’s sublime.

In conclusion he’s got another year on his contract. I don’t think he’ll go before. So my view is get behind him and AFC and let’s see what happens. He’ll fail or succeed and I suspect the latter. Either way I think Wenger will go at the end of the 2017 season, so the haters will get their wish. In the meantime, the constant moaning and negativity around a club that over the past 20 years (despite its constant evolution) has stood for so many good and enviable things, has set new standards and records, transformed English football and AFC itself, is a dreadful indictment of today’s attitudes to football and some AFC fans

There is no individual who is right about anything. I don’t believe that any serious person can write off Arsenal as title contenders when there are still 9 games to go. This is just being hyper emotional and unwise. If Arsenal was 15 points off the pace I would have agreed with that kind of assertion but now with 8 points behind Leicester and 9 games still to go anything is not only possible but also likely. Obviously I will not engage in the vanity of betting since that is only for people with simple minds. Lest many people forget 8 points is just two losses and a draw which is not an impossibility in games. Every team suffers a dip in form at some stage and Leicester cannot be an exception. Remember last season Chelsea suffered a similar scenario only that they had already created a big gap between themselves and the next team which is not the case here. As for the CL game against Barcelona, I still think it is possible for Arsenal to upset Barcelona like it did against Bayern Munich a few seasons ago. It may be difficult or unlikely but only a fool would say it is impossible. In games, just as in other spheres of life, there are few things which are not possible and I don’t think beating Barcelona is one of the impossibles. It can be done but maybe it may not happen. Only a few days and this puzzle will be solved. Why can’t we save our comments for the outcome?

Do you know that Merson predicted victories for Arsenal in matches like Swansea and other teams who were expected to be beaten and why won’t he be frustrated with that. Is he wrong? Maybe. But the whole problems lies within the squad and Wenger does not deal with the situation with passion. An opportunity comes like this on a silver platter and the first thing a club does is do whatever it takes to win but Arsenal do the exact opposite. The Refs have been appalling as well no wonder they will be in the headlines for controversy in the Euros.

@gooner100.
Being “positive” is no crime at all! Depends on what you think “positive” is.

“..Disappointing that we haven’t taken the title, is the only legitimate claim.”
Indeed, it will be beyond “disappointing” if we do not win the title this season. Someone will have to take responsibility for that sort of underperformance/underachievement considering we had enough time, resources and investment in the team to prepare for this season.

The same thing has and will happen (Mourinho, Van Gaal, Pellegrini) at the other clubs too.